Hi there, over the last few month I have put some effort into my new Supertuxkart track. It seems that now it’s ready to show it you and hope for some feedback.

A little a bit about what in mind. I started with this track, when I was quite new to Blender. I forgot it for a while and only rediscovered it by chance. The idea of the track is a sunny autumn in the mountainous terrain of the Black Forest (Germany), which is where I live.

I don’t think that the name “Black Forest” is such a great idea – any suggestions are welcome. I am also wondering, how this track performs on different systems – newer and older computers.

Finally, I am still working on the finishing touches. Here are some of my ideas and plans:

• replacing the low-poly farmhouse

• the canyon and creek will be improved or removed• add details in many places• improve the forest graphics• the flow direction of the creek needs to be corrected• improve the graphics at the start• put in some of your suggestions

etc.

If you want to try it out, you can download “Black Forest” I have split the package into three parts. Just merge them upon reload.

Hi, Sven!It's nice to see a new contribution. Even more, at this level.

I liked this track very much. The landscape is very beautiful with really good trees and not all are green; many have autumn leaves. I like this because all the previous tracks have green vegetation. Some parts of the stunning forest have a resemblance with my (still unveiled project) Viking Ring Fortress, because it's a track with a stretch passing through a forest in the first weeks of the autumn is the past (circa 980 AD, like I said two years ago).

IMHO, the only one aspect you should redo it's the placement of some trees, which have part of their roots outside the terrain. A bit inner or lower and it will be ok.

The rest, is very well done.

This is my personal rating scale based on my evaluation after some laps:Track Concept: 4.5Ease of driving: 4Level of Fun: 5Graphics Quality: 4.8

Wow! I couldn't test the track but by GeekPenguinBR's video I can say that the screenshots don't do the track justice. I can see that you also made the track fun to drive: there are obstacles, the width isn't constant, lots of scenery...

A few relatively minor suggestions:* Maybe try to add a bit more variety to the vegetation. I think there is at least one other pine tree model in the library that you could link in.* Definitely keep the canyon. It helps add variety.* Realistic water is hard but with Benau's branch custom shaders are now possible so my advice is "stay tuned."* A more fitting gate design would be nice.* (Only a suggestion) a shortcut through a cave.

Possible names: Woodland Wanderings? Forest Footpath? No idea; though Arthur is rather good at coming up with names.

In your video I didn‘t see the library nodes - did you install them? The library folder contains three folders that need to be copied into the library folder (supertuxkart). Also, please, try the little sidetrack

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MTres19 {l Wrote}:Wow! I couldn't test the track but by GeekPenguinBR's video I can say that the screenshots don't do the track justice.

I included the screenshots just to show the 3-D models, which I plan to change. Here are few nicer ones.

MTres19 {l Wrote}:* Maybe try to add a bit more variety to the vegetation. I think there is at least one other pine tree model in the library that you could link in.

I didn‘t use the pine tree model from the library on purpose, because of their very high polycounts … . Maybe I will make another model in the future.

MTres19 {l Wrote}:* Realistic water is hard but with Benau's branch custom shaders are now possible so my advice is "stay tuned."

I don‘t know the shader you mentioned - can you give me more information? For water I always use alpha blend shader and refraction/reflection on top.

MTres19 {l Wrote}:* (Only a suggestion) a shortcut through a cave.

I like the cave idea, but there is already a shortcut through the railway tunnel.

SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:In your video I didn‘t see the library nodes - did you install them? The library folder contains three folders that need to be copied into the library folder (supertuxkart). Also, please, try the little sidetrack

Yes, for sure. But, since the video itself is a spoiler, I decided to avoid that stretch on purpose. Then, the players will have the opportunity to "discover" for themselves the entrance for it and how the stretch looks good. By my side, all I can say is that the alternative way is very beautiful and pleasant to drive too. I liked very much the way you put the powerups on there.

MTres19 {l Wrote}:* Maybe try to add a bit more variety to the vegetation. I think there is at least one other pine tree model in the library that you could link in.

I didn‘t use the pine tree model from the library on purpose, because of their very high polycounts … . Maybe I will make another model in the future.

Actually since STK computes lighting in the fragment shader (per-pixel) rather than per vertex, polycount doesn't influence FPS as much. Also there is the capability to disable certain objects below a certain GFX level; if that's not enabled for this library node I can add it to my TODO list.

SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:

MTres19 {l Wrote}:* Realistic water is hard but with Benau's branch custom shaders are now possible so my advice is "stay tuned."

I don‘t know the shader you mentioned - can you give me more information? For water I always use alpha blend shader and refraction/reflection on top.

The shader doesn't exist—yet. If/when Benau's code is merged into the main branch it will be easier to write custom GLSL shaders. I was thinking of something that would be both reflective and transparent, like water.

I think this sign looks really great and cool, but I don't think it fits in this landscape at all. Maybe you could try making one with wood.But maybe this sign could be added to the STK library because this could fit well on other tracks.

- You should try to get some higher resolution of the sky, because it looks very pixeled (or are this just my settings?)

- Some trees (I think mostly those with orange leafs) suddenly popped out of nowhere during driving. Can be seen in my video, right after the start (Or again only my settings?)

I would love to see this track officially released when these points are fixed.

Thanks again to all of you for your feedback. I‘m glad you like the track.

Mr.XX99 {l Wrote}:I think this sign looks really great and cool, but I don't think it fits in this landscape at all. Maybe you could try making one with wood.

Yes, you‘re right. I did‘nt like the sign too much either. I‘ve already exchanged it. Now it is looking like this:

Mr.XX99 {l Wrote}:- You should try to get some higher resolution of the sky, because it looks very pixeled (or are this just my settings?)

The sky is so pixelated because I have compressed the textures for the Forum very much.

Mr.XX99 {l Wrote}:- Some trees (I think mostly those with orange leafs) suddenly popped out of nowhere during driving. Can be seen in my video, right after the start (Or again only my settings?)

The trees right after the start are LOD-models (level of detail) which means that I have made two different models for these trees, which are displayed depending on the distance (low quality when far distant, high quality when close). When changing the models, sometimes it looks as if they would suddenly pop out of nowhere.Shortly after the second bridge one orange tree actually popped out of nowhere. I have already fixed that.

So, now a few things I would like to ask:

I want to have some objects only to be visible while driving in reverse. I have tried in the panel „SuperTuxKart Object Properties“ in „visible if“ with the text „isTrackReverse“ which didn‘t work. What is your tip?

I have changed the gloss map for the water. Now it reflects more. I like it very much from far away, but from close it looks a bit strange. (see the pictures) Would you decide to leave it as it is, so it looks better from far away, or would you decide to change it, so it doesn‘t look so ugly from close.

Last question: I have marked one driveline as „invisible“ and „ignore by AIs“. Driving forward it works, driving reverse it doesn‘t work: the AI karts use the driveline nevertheless. Is this a bug?

For reverse-only objects, I tried it again and exactly with the words from your example, but it still doesn‘t work. Shall I upload the blend file? - but I need to know where and how… because the file is too big for the Forum.

Auria {l Wrote}:For driveline flags being ignored in reverse, this does sound like a bug! You could file one on github if you wish, otherwise I could